good afternoon thanks for joining us today we're at new westminster secondary school
back in the late 1980s you might have seen johnny depp roaming these halls while filming
his hit tv series 21 jump street however plans for the development of a new facility
unearthed the long-capped secret that this school was built on top of the historic burial ground
the land that i'm standing on right now was once designated as the davidson cemetery or also known
as the old new westminster cemetery in the late 1800s this site was used as a pioneer cemetery and
became a potter's field the final resting place for prisoners the poor and mentally ill patients
sections of the grounds were portioned off for different denominations but because the ground at
this site was swampy the white population began to move its burials over to the newer fraser cemetery
but this cemetery continued to be used by people of color and other marginalized groups including
the chinese japanese indo-canadians and indigenous peoples by 1907 the cemetery was found to be full
and in 1914 the site was permanently closed down by the city although they didn't spend the money
that was needed to properly decommission it the human remains stayed in the ground while the land
became overgrown and all of the gravestones were removed except those of the early white pioneers
in 1948 the city came to an agreement with the school district to use the site for
construction of a new secondary school building right over top of the cemetery
was reported that truckloads of bones were removed in the darker hours of the night
and it was also reported that during construction of the massey junior high school in 1949
builders unearthed at least one of the coffins buried on site
despite these ghastly discoveries construction of the school continued with the pearson wing of the
high school which runs from 10th avenue to dublin street being built right over the cemetery grounds
given the history of the school it's natural that stories of ghosts and hauntings would arise
the book haunted canada tells the story of several shocking deaths
and the subsequent hauntings that occurred at the school
in one tale a male student drowned in the early 1970s in a pool located in the school's basement
it's said that after the event occurred security guards regularly saw a boy floating face down in
the water during their nightly rounds but when they went to get help the boy would disappear
guards also reported paranormal activity in the archery range that was located in the basement
it's said that a man has been seen firing phantom bow and arrows only to disappear if
anyone got too close it's also said that a male student died in the woodworking shop in the 1980s
and his spirit lives on although no one has come face to face with this spirit
he's been seen on the security camera monitors by the night guards there's been an ongoing debate
over whether these events actually happened in fact research and eyewitness accounts failed to
prove that a pool even existed the so-called archery range turned out to be a gun range
leading to a lack of credibility for that account and a search of newspaper archives has failed
to turn up any reference to the woodworking incident that supposedly happened in the 1980s
however it's possible that all the ghostly sightings at new westminster secondary school
over the years can be attributed to the bones that lie beneath the building's foundation
in the early 2000s planning for construction of a new school resurfaced the history of the site
the government of british columbia and the new westminster school district have made
a commitment to protect and preserve the historical significance of the site and
ensure that no further construction will take place on any known burial grounds
and a portion of the new westminster secondary school grounds has been officially designated
as a cemetery falling under the heritage conservation act
after years of careful planning the new secondary school facility is finally open
plans remain in progress for the memorialization of the cemetery sites
and its development as a park following deconstruction of the existing school
however until that happens the old school remains vacant filled with nothing but the echoes of
school children and perhaps the occasional restless spirit thanks for joining us today
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cool places that we've been to and explored until next time it's time to exit through the gift shop